Curved Mirror

&
Thin converging lens

G8
 Image Formed by a Plane Mirror

• point object A,
source of light

• reflected rays appear to come from A’  A’ is image of A

• outgoing rays do not actually cross  image is virtual
Image of an extended object

• every point of the object acts as light source

• every point has an image
• collection of image points form image of the object
Example: where is the image located (top view)?
Example: Image of a distant object. How large does the mirror
have to be?

Find some similar triangles! (Only one is fully shown in the

figure.)
 Curved Mirrors
• Curved mirrors are like plane mirrors
• they have smooth, shiny surfaces that reflect
light.
• The surface can either curve in (concave) or out
(convex) as shown below
Concave mirrors
They curve inwards
They can form two types of image
If the light rays come from something close, the
image is upright and magnified
It is a virtual image
If the light rays come from something distant, they
come to a focus after reflection

Converging mirror
They converge (come together) to form a small inverted
image which can be picked up on a screen
The type of image is called a real image
The rays of light actually meet to form it.
 Convex Mirror

Characteristic of convex mirror

1. A convex mirror is part of the outer surface
of a hollow sphere
2. A convex mirror produces diverged rays
3. A convex mirror does not form real images
4. Convex mirror in daily life, used in cars, and
used in stores to observe shoppers.
Principal axi
Concave and Convex Mirrors

There are two kinds of spherical mirrors: concave and convex.

concave convex
F
Lenses
 Converging Lens
What is a lens?

A lens is a piece of clear plastic or glass with

curved surfaces.

Lenses are widely used in spectacles,

cameras, projectors and many other optical
instruments.
 Converging Lens
How does a lens refract light?

A lens can be thought of as a set of blocks and prisms (see

Fig 10.53 and 10.54).

Fig 10.53 Converging Lens Fig 10.54 Diverging Lens

 Converging Lens
How does a lens refract light?

Parallel light rays will incident different parts of the lens at

different incident angles.
Light rays refract the most at the outermost part of the lens,
while less or no refraction occurs in the middle portion.

Fig 10.53 Converging Lens Fig 10.54 Diverging Lens

 Converging Lens
How does a lens refract light?
As a result, the light rays will converge
(Fig 10.53) or diverge (Fig 10.54) behind
the lens.

Fig 10.53 Converging Lens Fig 10.54 Diverging Lens

 Converging Lens
Types of Lenses – Converging and
Diverging
• For converging lenses, parallel light
rays are brought to focus at a point.
• For diverging lenses, parallel light rays
tend to be spread out.
Insert table 12.4
Thin converging lens and its main features

1. Optical centre C
2. Principal axis
3. Focal point F – All parallel rays to
the principal axis converge at the
focal point F. Fig 10.58 Converging lens
4. Focal length, f – The distance
between the optical centre C and
the focal point F.
5. Focal plane

Fig 10.59 Converging lens

 Converging Lenses
• A converging lens is thicker at the middle
than it is at the rim
– The front of the lens is the side of the lens
where the object is

• Converging lenses can produce real or

virtual images
 Converging Lenses

2F F F 2F

The focal points are equidistant from the center of the

lens. That distance
is the focal length of the lens.
 Converging Lens Reference
Rays
Ray From object to From lens to
lens image
Parallel Ray Parallel to Passes through
principal axis focal point F
Central Ray To the center of From the center
the lens of the lens
Focal ray Passes through Parallel to
focal point F principal axis
 Converging Lenses
Ray 1

Ray
2

2F F Ra F 2F
3 y

The focal points are equidistant from the center of the lens. That dis
is the focal length of the lens.
 Ray Diagram for Lenses
Learning Outcome
In this section, you’ll be able to:
• Draw ray diagrams to illustrate the
formation of real and virtual images of an
object formed by a thin converging lens.
 Ray Diagram for Lenses
How to locate the position of an
image?
3 steps to locate the image:
Step 1: Set up the lens and the ray
diagram.
Step 2: Placing the object.
Step 3: Trace the light rays using paths
1, 2 or 3 as learned on pg 189.
 Ray Diagram for Lenses
How to locate the position of an
image?
Step 1: Set up the lens and the ray
diagram
i. Draw principal axis
ii. Draw the lens
iii. Mark optical centre C
iv. Mark the focal point F
Fig 10.62 Step 1
 Ray Diagram for Lenses
How to locate the position of an image?
Step 2: Placing the object.
i. Place the object O to the left of the lens.
ii. Mark the object distance as u.

Fig 10.63 Placing the object

 Ray Diagram for Lenses
How to locate the position of an image?
Step 3: Trace the light rays and draw the image.
i. Draw 2 of the 3 definite paths e.g. Path 1 and 2.
ii. The point where the two light paths intersect is the
position of the image.

Fig 10.64 Draw paths and locate image

 Ray Diagram for Lenses
How to locate the position of an
image?
In this example, the image is said to be a real image.
A real image is formed when the light rays converge at the
point of the image. If a screen is place at this position, the
image will be captured clearly on screen.

Fig 10.64 Formation of a real image

 Ray Diagram for Lenses
Virtual image formed by a converging lens

When the object O is placed near to the lens such that

the object distance u is less that the focal length f,
then a virtual image is formed.
A virtual image cannot be captured on screen.

Fig 10.65 Virtual image is formed when u < f

 Ray Diagram for Lenses
Table: Types of
images formed by a
converging lens with
different values of
object distances u.
Images Created by Converging Lenses
 Images produced by lenses

• An object infinitely
far away from a
converging lens
will create a point
image at the focal
point
– i.e. light from the
Sun
 Images produced by lenses

• As a distant object
approaches the focal
point, the image
becomes larger and
farther away
 Images produced by lenses

• When the object

is at the focal
point, the light
rays exit parallel
to each other
and the image is
“at infinity”
– i.e. a lighthouse
or a searchlight
 Images produced by lenses

• When the object is inside the focal point,

the rays are drawn the same way but you
must extend them backwards in order to
find the image
 Converging Lens: Objects inside the focal
point

Draw lines
extending
backwards to
form the image

2F F F 2F
These
rays are
diverging
and won’t
cross
 Converging Lens
Tracing path of light through a thin
converging lens

Insert fig for path 1,2 and 3 on pg 247

 Applications of Converging Lenses
Converging Lenses can be used in
various optical instruments:
• Magnifying glass
• LCD projector
• Camera
• Visual correction for long-sightedness